


You Ride the Bus, I Ride the Bus, Wow So Much in Common

by IridescentSkeleton



Series: Less Boring Encounters with the City Bus [1]
Category: Homestuck
Genre: Bus, Gen, Humanstuck, M/M, Tell the driver when you need to get your bike before exiting plz
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-05
Updated: 2016-08-05
Packaged: 2018-07-29 09:47:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,385
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7679644
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/IridescentSkeleton/pseuds/IridescentSkeleton
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Dave has a new experience with riding the bus that didn't turn out as sour as it probably did for his fellow passengers.</p>
            </blockquote>





	You Ride the Bus, I Ride the Bus, Wow So Much in Common

Rose likes to side-eye you and get on your case all the time about not pulling up your big boy pants and learning to drive already. But honestly, you don't see what the big deal is. Just look at all the pluses of _not_ driving: No saving up cash to buy and maintain a car. An excuse to hang out with your friends for awhile when they're cool to drive you somewhere. And even when you need to take the bus you're saving the planet and shit by not adding more carbon to the atmosphere. And biking is good exercise. 

So many pluses. 

You made sure to lecture her about all those pluses before she shoved you out the door earlier. It's probably not gonna be enough to stave off more side-eyeing but at least she didn't try for a rebuttal which means you won. You choose to ignore the fact that her new girlfriend had been expected to arrive for a date in a few minutes. 

And really, when you continue thinking about it because you don't just drop a subject so easily, the bus has lots of its own pluses. Like mainly that pretty much every one of them has a working air conditioner (looking at you, Jade), it's free with your uni ID, and it's nice to have the travel time to chill and listen to music without technically wasting time doing it. 

The biggest plus to riding the bus has to be the interesting characters on it, though. Especially the ones you get to see a lot and learn about. Like there's the little old man who walks with a hunch and chants “back door right here” repeatedly every time he gets off even though the bus driver heard him the first damn time. There's also this one real pretty girl who stands if she can't get a seat in the front and always wears fancy head coverings (not hijabs, you actually don't got a clue what those tall, ancient Egypt pharaoh crown-like fabric things are called if they have a name). There's the intimidating and tall as fuck security guard who lives a couple stops down and always walks meekly to offset his height (it doesn't work, he's still intimidating, but you think that might be the racist part of you that you're trying to beat out so you make doubly sure to smile politely when you accidentally catch his eye). And those are just a few of the repeat riders you've seen. 

There's really all kinds of memorable folk you've gotten to know just by people-watching. You’ve got this "we see each other all the time and are polite but don't really care to talk" type of relationship with them that's pretty chill. 

And then there's this ragey fuck who snaps at people who try to make conversation and visibly bristles whenever someone takes a seat next to him. You mostly notice Grouchy because of how irritating he is. It’s not like anyone _wants_ to sit next to a stranger on a bus; it's usually because there's no more elbow room seats left. But this guy still takes it as a personal offense for god knows what reason and you feel like smacking him even when it's someone else experiencing his silent tantrum. You don't count him with your other chill bus-stranger relationships for being an asshole. 

Honestly, he's lucky he has a cute face. 

Your mental mumblings have gotten way off track by the time a bunch of people start shouting at the driver. There's an ominous thump from the sidewalk side of the bus that's audible even from your spot in the back. 

That can't be good. 

You don't really follow what happens next, except that there's people talking and the driver making displeased sounds and soon you find yourself out in the hot sun with the other passengers, staring at the graying white guy that has a fresh and nasty head wound. You eye the blood dripping down his face before hastily turning away. 

Huh, apparently you ended up next to Grouchy. Who is apparently in full-throttle ranting mode. 

“—cannot fucking _believe_ this travesty, I'm going to be late all because some asswipe can't follow basic fucking instructions printed on a sign to TELL THE DAMN DRIVER when you're GETTING YOUR DAMN BIKE!” He aims the next words in the guy’s general direction. “You can't expect the driver to remember which bike is who's you goddamn IDIOT!” The guy doesn't seem to have noticed the outburst, preoccupied with watching the driver call someone on her radio thing. 

“Is that what happened?” you blurt out once you process Grouchy's words, glancing at the bleeding man with a new disdain. 

The driver stops radioing in what happened and starts setting up little cones behind the bus to redirect traffic. Goddammit, was this seriously happening? 

“Looks like.” Grouchy gives an exaggerated groan and stares beseechingly up at the sky as if hoping to be struck down by lightning. Jokes on him, the sky's clear and he'll have to deal with slow death by heatstroke instead. “My sister is going to be so upset that I’m late for her party.” 

“You at least have a kickin' present that'll make up for it?” 

“I don't fucking know, all I got her was a giant cat plushie since she's obsessed with those furry monsters.” 

“Really sell it,” you encouraged. “Give it a whole tragic backstory that gives her no choice but to fall in love.” 

Grouchy snorted and looked over at you for the first time. After a considering look he stuck out his hand. “I’m Karkat.” 

You were surprised it took so little to get on his good side, but don't hesitate to shake the offered hand. “Dave.” 

The bus driver suddenly announces that the next bus would be along in about twenty minutes and no worries, nobody needed to pay fare again. She had to stay there to help the class-A idiot get medical attention. You added the idiot part mentally since she had to do the polite service worker thing and couldn't call the guy that herself. 

“So much fuss to not get sued by an asshole who is legally in the wrong here,” Grouchy-Karkat grumbled. 

“Yeah.” You eyed the stripe of blood stretching along the side of the bus. “I'm gonna go get my bike.” 

When you come back, your irritable acquaintance has taken a seat on a bit of grass that has shade. He raises an eyebrow as you approach. “Your bike makes you look like an even bigger tool than your sunglasses do.” 

“Hey now,” you say, not really offended. “I'll have you know this was a pricy custom job.” 

“It's the Nyan Cat. That's not even a relevant meme anymore.” 

“Capitalism says it is, judging by Hot Topic's merch, and capitalism's always right.” 

“Oh my god.” 

The two of you fall into surprisingly pleasant small talk. While Karkat still shoots out barbs, they aren't as mean as you were expecting from what you've seen of him previously. It’s like the fangs he always seems to bare slip away when off what can be an agonizingly stressful experience that is riding the city bus. Or maybe you're just that attractive. Probably the second thing. 

At long last the next bus arrives. Everyone piles on as the new driver nods and smiles amicably, and thankfully there's only a small amount of prior passengers so you won't have to stand. Karkat claims one of the two-seaters and you decide to take the other spot since the two of you are technically on a first-name basis now. Thankfully he doesn't go back to bristling like he used to and willingly launches back into conversation with you. 

You're almost disappointed when he tugs the cord several stops later. Okay, no, you guess you really _are_ disappointed. You were starting to feel like you were making a new friend here. 

There's no time to ask for his number or Pesterchum; you should've asked earlier. As he leaves you call out, “Remember, tragic abandoned alien cat from Mars backstory!" He looks over his shoulder just to roll his eyes at you, but you can spot the tiny smile on his face. 

You're suddenly eager to see this particular repeat bus character again.

**Author's Note:**

> This is a literal experience I had while riding the bus. Some middle-aged guy didn't mention he had a bike to grab, the driver started pulling off, and this dude just slams his face against the side and we had to wait for the next bus to come get us. It was not one of the funner bus adventures I had. The only good thing is that I got to stick fictional characters in this circumstance to complain about it.
> 
> These are also repeat riders I've seen, and if anyone knows what the name of that cylindrical head covering thing is I would greatly appreciate sticking it in the notes here. It's cool but I've never seen it anywhere else, so I'm really curious if she invented it or if it has some other associations I don't know about.


End file.
